This is a guide on how to prepare for the Brutal and Legendary Combat Simulator challenges in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (FF7 Rebirth). Check out what the Brutal and Legendary challenges are, the different missions, and tips and tricks to beat these challenges.

List of Brutal Challenges

Brutal Challenge: Army of the Damned

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Defeat Gilgamesh		・Binding Materia Earrings
Enemies Fought
Total of 52 Standard Enemies Across All 10 Rounds

How to Beat Brutal Challenge: Army of the Damned

Brutal Challenge: Requiem for the Scorned

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete Brutal Challenge: Army of the Damned		・Elemental Materia ★
Enemies Fought
Total of 43 Standard Enemies Across All 10 Rounds

How to Beat Brutal Challenge: Requiem for the Scorned

Brutal Challenge: Unending Nightmare

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete Brutal Challenge: Requiem for the Scorned		・Prayer Materia Earrings
Enemies Fought
Total of 30 Standard Enemies Across All 10 Rounds

How to Beat Brutal Challenge: Unending Nightmare

Brutal Challenge: Hellions’ Intonement

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete Brutal Challenge: Unending Nightmare ・Defeat classified for in the Corel region		・Magnify Materia ★
Enemy List by Round
1	・Fonadu ・Maloceros	6	・Mastodon ・Levridon
2	・Deathwheel ・Modded Sweeper ・J-Unit Sweeper	7	・Landworm ・Duneworm
3	・Adjudicator ・Yin & Yang ・Test 0	8	・Disgorgon ・Hecteyes
4	・Zu ・Ogre ・Levrikon	9	・Moss-Grown Adamantoise ・Floating Death
5	・White Mousse ・White Terror	10	・Joker ・Tonberry King

How to Beat Brutal Challenge: Hellions' Intonement

Brutal Challenge: The Seventh Seal

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete Brutal Challenge: Hellions’ Intonement ・Complete the main scenario		・MP Up Earrings
Enemy List by Round
1	・Barnaclaw ・Elder Golem	6	・Mystic Dragon ・Irasceros
2	・Burt ・Kid G	7	・Reapertail ・Gigant Bomb
3	・Sea Devil ・Dragon	8	・Gigaworm ・Dark Claw
4	・Stone Golem ・Tonadu	9	・Gigantuar ・Gargantuar
5	・Suevite Disgorgon ・Sanguine Scourge	10	・Diabolic Variant ・Ember Zu

How to Beat Brutal Challenge: The Seventh Seal

Brutal Challenge: Rulers of the Outer Worlds

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete Brutal Challenge: The Seventh Seal ・Complete the main scenario		・Gotterdammerung
Enemy List by Round
1	・Kujata ・Phoenix	4	・Gilgamesh
2	・Titan ・Bahamut Arisen	5	・Virtual Sephiroth
3	・Alexander ・Odin	-

How to Beat Brutal Challenge: Rulers of the Outer Worlds

List of Legendary Bouts

Legendary Bout: Cloud vs. The Warriors

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete the main scenario		・The Art of Swordplay Vol. XV
Enemy List by Round
1	・Bandit x6	4	・Sanguine Scourge
2	・White Terror	5	・Ironclad
3	・Irasceros	-

How to Beat Legendary Bout: Cloud vs. The Warriors

Legendary Bout: Barret vs. The Colossi

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Defeat the classified foe in the Junon region ・Complete the main scenario		・Sharpshooter's Companion Vol. XVI
Enemy List by Round
1	・Thug x6	4	・Moss-Grown Adamantoise
2	・Modded Sweeper	5	・Hell Rider II
3	・Gigant Bomb	-

How to Beat Legendary Bout: Barret vs. The Colossi

Legendary Bout: Tifa vs. The Martialists

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Defeat the classified foe in the Cosmo Canyon region ・Complete the main scenario		・Way of the Fist Vol. XVI
Enemy List by Round
1	・Type-G Slug Ray x3	4	・Elder Golem
2	・Dark Claw	5	・Jabberwock
3	・Kid G	-

How to Beat Legendary Bout: Tifa vs. The Martialists

Legendary Bout: Aerith vs. The Magi

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Defeat the classified foe in the grasslands ・Complete the main scenario		・Telluric Scriptures Vol. XVI
Enemy List by Round
1	・Slug Ray x2 ・Security Officer x2	4	・Hecteyes
2	・Yin & Yang	5	・Quetzalcoatl
3	・White Mousse x2	-

How to Beat Legendary Bout: Aerith vs. The Magi

Legendary Bout: Red XIII vs. The Beasts

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Defeat the classified foe in the Gongaga region ・Complete the main scenario		・Tale of the Red Warrior Vol. XVI
Enemy List by Round
1	・Amphidex x6	4	・Levridon
2	・Mastodon	5	・Great Malboro
3	・Gigantoad	-

How to Beat Legendary Bout: Red XIII vs. The Beasts

Legendary Bout: Yuffie vs. The Wronged

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Defeat the classified foe in the Nibel region ・Complete the main scenario		・Secrets of the Ninja Vol. XVI
Enemy List by Round
1	・Grasslands Wolf x4	4	・Dragon
2	・Joker	5	・King Zu
3	・Diabolic Variant	-

How to Beat Legendary Bout: Yuffie vs. The Wronged

Legendary Bout: Cait Sith vs. The Abominable

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete the main scenario		・Fortunes Untold Vol. XVI
Enemy List by Round
1	・Grangalan x3	4	・Suevite Disgorgon
2	・Gi Lancer ・Gi Archer	5	・Mindflayer
3	・Reapertail	-

How to Beat Legendary Bout: Cait Sith vs. The Abominable

Legendary Bout: Bonds of Friendship

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete All Legendary Solo Combat Courses ・Obtain the corsair's compass accessory		・Ribbon
Enemy List by Round
1	・Titan	6	・Ironclad
2	・Hueyacoatl	7	・Alexander
3	・Phoenix	8	・Mindflayer
4	・Brineborn Demon	9	・Bahamut Arisen
5	・Kujata	10	・Odin

How to Beat Legendary Bout: Bonds of Friendship

Legendary Bout: To Be a Hero

Unlock Conditions		Rewards
・Complete All Legendary Solo Combat Courses ・Obtain the corsair's compass accessory		・The Art of Swordplay Vol. XVI
Enemy List by Round
1	・Titan	6	・Jabberwock
2	・Ogre Raider	7	・Alexander
3	・Phoenix	8	・King Zu
4	・Sea Dragon	9	・Bahamut Arisen
5	・Kujata	10	・Odin

How to Beat Legendary Bout: To Be a Hero

How to Unlock Brutal and Legendary Challenges

Defeat Gilgamesh

Once you've collected all Protorelics and unlocked the option to explore the seas on the Tiny Bronco, you'll be able to head over to the newly discovered Gilgamesh Island.

After beating three more boss fights featuring two Summons paired together, you can finally face Gilgamesh himself and beating him will unlock Brutal and Legendary challenges in the Combat Simulator.

How to Unlock and Beat Gilgamesh

How to Prepare for Brutal and Legendary Challenges

Preparation Tips for Brutal and Legendary
Max Out Your Party and Weapon Levels Fully Upgrade Your Materia Assess Every Enemy in the Game Recover HP and MP Before Ending a Round

Max Out Your Party and Weapon Levels

To make the Brutal and Legendary challenges easier, you should first look to max out your Party and Weapon Levels. This is important so that you can get all the skill cores in the Folio and your weapons will have max stats, all of their Weapon skills, and max Materia slots.

Folio Skill Trees Guide

Complete the Story and Side Quests on Hard

If you've only been playing on Easy and Normal difficulty, you won't have enough Manuscripts to max out your Weapon level and unlock every node in the Folio.

Before tackling the Brutal and Legendary Combat Simulator challenges, it's recommended to beat the story and side quest bosses on Hard Mode to unlock all the other Manuscripts necessary to max out your Weapon Level and get enough EXP to max out your Party Level.

Do note that you still need to beat each character's individual Legendary Bouts to get the final Manuscript you need to max out their weapon levels.

Hard Mode Difficulty Guide

Fully Upgrade Your Materia

Another thing that you should do is to max at your Materia's star levels. This is essential for any Hard Mode fight so that you have the maximum power level going into a battle.

AP Farming Guide - How to Farm AP Fast

Assess Every Enemy in the Game

To make each round easier, it's also recommended to Assess every enemy in the game, or at least the ones that appear in the challenges, so that you can quickly check their weaknesses and pressure conditions in the middle of a fight.

List of Enemies

Recover HP and MP Before Ending a Round

Since you will recover 50% of your HP and MP in between every round, you will want to make sure that you have at least half of your max HP and MP at the end of a round.

Remember to use spells and abilities like Curaga, Pray, and Soul Drain when the last enemy is alive so that you can go into the next round with full HP and MP.

What are Brutal Challenges?

Difficult Full Party Fights

Brutal Challenges are a series of fights on Hard mode that pit you against some of the strongest enemies in the game. Double-check if your party is fully optimized with the best gear possible before taking on these tough fights.

What are Legendary Bouts?

Tough Single Character Battles

Unlike the Brutal Challenges, Legendary Bouts will have you play as a single character against a horde of powerful enemies. Make sure that you understand and have a strong grasp on how to play every single party member to beat each of their Legendary challenges.

Play as Zack and Sephiroth

For the last two Legendary Bouts, Cloud will be paired with Zack and Sephiroth for the challenges. Outside of any story battles, this is the only other place where you will be able to directly control them in combat.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Related Guides

All Combat Simulator Battles and Rewards

All Combat Simulator Articles

Combat Simulator Guides
Brutal and Legendary Combat Simulator Guide

Biological Intel

List of Biological Intel Missions
Know Thine Enemy	Blinded by Light
Breath of Life	At Any Cost
Head Case	That's the Smell
Stony Stare	-

Brutal Challenges

List of Brutal Challenges
Army of the Damned	Requiem for the Scorned
Unending Nightmare	Hellions' Intonement
The Seventh Seal	Rulers of the Outer Worlds

Legendary Bouts

List of Legendary Bouts
Cloud vs. The Warriors	Barret vs. The Colossi
Tifa vs. The Martialists	Aerith vs. The Magi
Red XIII vs. The Beasts	Yuffie vs. The Wronged
Cait Sith vs. The Abominable	Bonds of Friendship
To Be a Hero	-